Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various nonplacental mammals of the infraclass Metatheria, including kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots, and wombats, found principally in Australia and the Americas, and typically bearing young that suckle and develop after birth in the mother's pouch. These species were formerly placed in the order Marsupialia.
- adjective Of or belonging to the infraclass Metatheria.
- adjective Relating to or having a marsupium.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Having the character of a bag, pouch, or marsupium; marsupiate.
- Of or pertaining to a marsupium: as, marsupial bones.
- Provided with a marsupium; specifically, pertaining to the Marsupialia, or having their characters.
- noun A member of the order Marsupialia; any implacental didelphian mammal. Also called
marsupiate .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Zoöl.) Having a pouch for carrying the immature young; of or pertaining to the Marsupialia.
- adjective (Anat. & Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to a marsupium.
- adjective (Zoöl.) See
Nototrema . - noun (Zoöl.) One of the Marsupialia.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
mammal of which the female has apouch in which it rears its young, which are born immature, through early infancy, such as thekangaroo orkoala , or else pouchless members of theMarsupialia like the shrew opposum. - adjective Of or pertaining to a marsupial.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective of or relating to the marsupials
- noun mammals of which the females have a pouch (the marsupium) containing the teats where the young are fed and carried
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But there is almost like what we call a marsupial pouch kind of like a kangaroo's pouch where there's no shear whatsoever.
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This marsupial is only very distantly related to the American Opossum.
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I think I have an obvious solution: looking at skulls that are neither the wolf or its so-called marsupial “equivalent.”
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The thylacine has been variously described as a "marsupial wolf" or a "Tasmanian tiger".
BBC News - Home 2011
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I am like some kind of marsupial with one kid strapped to my chest or hanging of my leg.
Gross Women's Health Post- Don't Bother To Read This One Zombie Mom 2008
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I have really determined that, unless I grow some kind of marsupial pouch, I'm never leaving the house without at least one pocket in whatever I'm wearing.
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I have really determined that, unless I grow some kind of marsupial pouch, I'm never leaving the house without at least one pocket in whatever I'm wearing.
December 2007 2007
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They are then transferred to a kind of marsupial pouch, analogous to that of the kangaroo, where their development proceeds.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 423 Volume 17, New Series, February 7, 1852 Various 1841
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The Axel rover system being developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion System could be used as a "marsupial" rover.
Cosmic Log 2009
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Central to the debate has been the demise of the Australian megafauna, including animals such as marsupial lions, hippopotamus-sized wombats and the 2m-tall giant kangaroo Procoptodon goliah.
sonofgroucho commented on the word marsupial
Isn't it surprising that when I was the first person to list kangeroo 15 people had already listed marsupial?
May 26, 2007
Telofy commented on the word marsupial
Hugh Laurie's favorite word.
July 15, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word marsupial
Hee! Thanks for that link, telofy.
July 15, 2009
reesetee commented on the word marsupial
Doesn't it always amaze you that his real-life accent is decidedly not like his House accent?
July 15, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word marsupial
I'm just getting used to his House accent, actually. I keep thinking of him in Blackadder III (If at work, use headphones before clicking) and IV.
I will say that marsupial sounds much less hilarious and more dignified when spoken with a British accent.
July 15, 2009
reesetee commented on the word marsupial
Then it's probably me, since I've never seen either. But you're right about marsupial. :-)
July 15, 2009
yarb commented on the word marsupial
Laurie's House accent still doesn't sound right to me. What part of the States is House supposed to be from? Is it just a generic American accent? Where would you guys place it? I think because I was used to his native accent, the US one will always seem faux to me.
Maruspial is an inspired choice of favourite word.
July 15, 2009
reesetee commented on the word marsupial
I don't watch the show much--I've only seen a couple of episodes--but he definitely does not have a typical New Jersey or NY accent (the show takes place in/around Princeton, NJ). It does sound rather generic to me.
July 16, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word marsupial
It has a touch of the broad vowel flatness associated with rural areas (Midwest?), but the rudeness is definitely Joisey. :) Wait... didn't the character go to Johns Hopkins? So perhaps he's not originally from Jersey/NY...? (Not that one's choice of medical school is necessarily the closest one. Just sayin'.)
It's still a dang good accent, even if it is generic. I don't think, during the pounding of several episodes a night (borrowed the DVDs from a friend... ahem...) that I've caught any British-sounding articulations more than, maybe, two or three times. That's pretty remarkable, considering that hearing a Brit (or Aussie) try to pronounce an American "R" sound (as in "arrrpeggio" or "butter" or better yet, "dork") makes me fall off my chair laughing.
For an example of the opposite extreme, see Kevin Costner's "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." Or at least, the first third of it, before he fired his dialect coach and just freakin' gave up trying to sound English... the flaming git.
July 16, 2009
reesetee commented on the word marsupial
Saayyy, watch what you say about John's adopted state. ;-)
Isn't House's backstory that he's traveled all over creation, both as a child and later in his studies? Ahh, what do I know....
*thinking about the American "R" and now wondering whether all pirates are actually Americans*
July 16, 2009
john commented on the word marsupial
Fire away at Jerseyland. It's more like my penitentiary.
July 16, 2009
plethora commented on the word marsupial
No amount of House, or even Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster, or anything else I've seen him in will ever stop this sketch from being the first thing I think of when Hugh's name is mentioned.
July 16, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word marsupial
STAN-dards!! :)
July 16, 2009
reesetee commented on the word marsupial
John: Well, now that you mention it, I do feel that way when I'm working (in NJ)....
July 16, 2009
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word marsupial
See monotreme.
July 17, 2009